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<body dir="ltr">On Sun, 28 Jun 2015 19:22:12 -0400, <conservationarchitect@rockbridge.net> wrote:<br><br><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0.80ex; border-left: #0000FF 2px solid; padding-left: 1ex">
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<div style="FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri"; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline">My
last posting on biochar was somewhat of an introduction to the subject.
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<div>This video about charcoal in Japan shows its use as an annual cycle
dehumidifier in a home</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Eli;</div><div><br></div><div>I have to confess that the notion of promoting charcoal as being Green struck me as being perverse.</div><div><br></div><div>That opinion was formed in the early 1970's after having read a charming little booklet entitled </div><div>"A Reverence for Wood" by Eric Sloane, most likely purchased as a result of having seen it mentioned in one of the Whole Earth Catalogues.</div><div><br></div><div>I recall Sloane having described the process of making charcoal and the lives of the men who made it in early America. They were shunned and/or feared, not only because of their appearance but also because of the strange life they necessarily led due to the demands of tending the charcoal mound 24/7/365.</div><div><br></div><div>Anyone who heats with wood will know that charcoal is the result of incomplete combustion -- ie a dirty, smouldering fire.</div><div><br></div><div>Its seems (to me anyway) that to promote charcoal "aka BioChar" as a Green resource is akin to promoting a 1967 Buick Electra with a 430 cubic inch V-8 engine as environmentally-friendly transportation.</div><div><br></div><div>It would also seem that instead of using 4500 kgs (almost 5 tons) of charcoal as a desiccant for dehumidification , simply using clay or salt would achieve the same result with far less embodied-energy. I suspect that Norbert Senf would have a pretty good idea of actual figures but my wild-@$$ guess would be that something like 10 tons of hardwood would need to be burned in a very dirty manner to make 5 tons of charcoal.</div><div><br></div><div>However, I could be completely off-base with my antiquated 1970's impression/opinion of charcoal. </div><div> </div><br><div id="M2Signature"><div>-- </div><div>=== * ===<br>Rob Tom DT7-64 <br>Kanata, Ontario, Canada</div></div></body></html>